Don’t let the thumbnail fool you; while I’m definitely not a fan of bullfighting I will always have a particular fondness for this plaza since it was basically across the street from my first apartment in the city.
I first came to Madrid in summer 2015 and have been living here since summer 2017 so this article is admittedly four years late but everything still applies now more than ever in my new hometown. It’s been one of my favourite cities for years (hence, the big move) and, while Madrid might not be as glamorous as Paris or as stylish as London, it has a life of its own definitely worth checking out. I thought I’d share exactly what makes this place oh so special because there’s more to it than meets the eye so here are the ten things I love most about Madrid. I hope they enchant you as much as they do me.
El Oso y El Madroño
1. I 🖤 the legends and secrets of Madrid.
One of my biggest suggestions of what to do when arriving to a new city in order to get acclimated to the new environment is taking a walking tour for those who are physically able. Most major cities have them and a lot of agencies and even hostels offer them for free, with only a tip to be given at the end of a usually (at least) two journey, if it was enjoyable. Madrid was the fourth city on my seventy-day Eurotrip back in 2015 and on the morning of my first full day there, a beautifully sunny July morning, I went on a walking tour that I didn't realize at the time would be the start of a whirlwind love affair with my future hometown. It was only my second ever walking tour, my only other taken in Dublin just two weeks before but that one didn’t quite capture my heart like this one would (though Dublin is one of my favorite cities as well!).
Our tour guide was an American student who spoke fluent Argentinian Spanish and had been living in the city for four years, giving tours on the side in both languages. It was obvious she'd fallen in love with the city, too, from the way she spoke and introduced us to every new place, a barely contained excitement hovering just below her skin. It was contagious to the us others as well and throughout our adventure across the sites of the city we discovered:
el licor del madroño (as known as the Irish strawberry, made into a sweet liquor served in a chocolate-coated wafer cup)
the passionate love that Queen Isabel II had for the opera (so much so that she commissioned the construction of an opera house right in the city center that took thirty-two years to finish)
Puerta de Alcalá has two different faces (apparenty the architect who’d constructed it had been too afraid to tell the king about the royal’s design flaw)
the hot deliciousness of Takos al Pastor (an authentic Mexican food chain where the line was out the door around the clock and tacos started at 1,50€)
that Madrid could easily hit 35-40C on a normal, mid-summer day
Basically Madrid in summer.
After lunch, as we sat in the shade of tree in Plaza de Neptuno eating ice cream for dessert from one of the copious gelatarìas around the city, she recounted to us the legend of El Gato while we took in the beauty of the scenery, which included the Fountain of Neptune at the center of the greeny Paseo del Prado beset on each side by both Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museo del Prado with Museo Reina Sofia lying a bit further down the road.
As our guide told it, the legend took place in what was then Mayrit, sometime during the middle of the near eight-hundred year siege of the Iberian peninsula by the Moors from 711 until 1492, when Isabella I and Ferdinand V (the same monarchy that would later send Christopher Columbus to discover the Americas the same year) conquered the latest Muslim stronghold in Granada. One day in May 1083, a young soldier was brave enough to scale the great Moorish walls imprisoning the city only using a dagger and his cat-like agility (aka gato in Spanish) to free the inhabitants and let in the troops of the Castilian king, Alfonso VI of León. This allowed the Spanish to reclaim the city and earned the soldier and his descendants the nickname. Anyone who could trace their lineage back to the city for at least three or four generations back on both sides of the family tree could be called as such, as opposed to first-generation Madrileños (the nickname for locals, like les montréalais where I'm from). You can hardly tell that you're sitting on top over a millennia of history under the current light of day but that’s one thing I've loved about the city, it's always hiding more, like secret gardens, ghost metro stations and catacombs.
2. I 🖤 Puerta del Sol, Plaza de Cibeles, the secret garden of the Príncipe de Anglona, really just pick any public square.
Like the aforementioned Plaza de Neptuno, Madrid (like many European capitals) is filled with other plazas from the mundane to the extravagant and the Spanish like to appreciate their agreeable climate so why not do so in splendor? The plazas also provide the perfect opportunity to people-watch, particularly Puerta del Sol which is a very popular meeting place in the city center for tourists and natives alike, right next to the statue of El Oso y El Madroño. At one point both the animal and plant were indigenous to the area, but have long since been hunted to near extinction by locals though the symbol remains.
Fuente de Cibeles
Puerta del Sol also has the famed Kilometer 0, which marks the “center” of Spain, and is more often than not filled with street vendors, costumed performers, tour groups and locals leaning against the various mound-decorations around the half-moon-shaped square as they take in all the delightful chaos of this city of six million souls. Calle Mayor (aka Main Street, once also known as Calle Mateo Morral after the man who tried to assassinate King Alfonso XIII and his bride there on their wedding day in 1906) runs between this plaza and Plaza Mayor, also a popular destination.
I prefer Plaza de Cibeles with the goddess Cibeles atop her chariot pulled by lions in the middle of a grand fountain flanked by Palacio de Cibeles (the old central post office and current city hall), Palacio de Buenavista (the country's military headquarters), Palacio de Linares (home to the institute of Casa de América) and Banco de España (the city bank filled with artwork from some of the most famous Spanish painters).
The Sabatini Gardens, just outside of the Royal Palace, are not to be skipped over either, especially during summer months when the weather is warm enough to dip your toes into the much smaller, accessible fountains or walk through its geometric, almost maze-like pathways. There's also a rectangular pond at the center and at sunset the red-orange light of the dying sun plays against the white marble statues and the gray stones of the Palace as the gas giant sinks past the greenness Caso de Campo. The gardens are just one of several public parks that are free to visit, such as:
Templo de Debod (donated from the Egyptian government in 2008)
Parque Retiro (a large, beautiful park with an artificial lake made for rowing canoes on a warm day)
El Capricho (my ultimate fave so far for its focus on Romanticism in its architecture)
La Quinta de Los Molinos (perfect place to see almond trees bloom mid-spring)
Plaza de la Paja (which houses the nearly secret garden of el Principe de Anglona)
Parque Pradolongo (features a botanical garden filled with unique plants)
Etc. (so on and so on)
All are just the perfect location to enjoy the nearly constant sunny weather and, even though it can appear to be a concrete jungle, Madrid is full of green spaces for nature lovers and plazas for city slickers alike, so why not go out before the weather gets stifling? (August usually hits a record of 45C+).
As the locals say, Madrid is three months of hell and nine months of winter, which brings me to my next point.
Puerta del Sol on an averge sunny, winter afternoon.
3. I 🖤 the weather, of course!
The dry heat of the desert that the surrounding landscape appears to become by mid-summer means that even at its hottest the city enjoys minimal humidity. This is a godsend when temperatures can easily hit over 40C in July and August. The first year I officially moved to Madrid there was a massive heat wave that saw the biggest drought the country had experienced in twenty years and the water levels of some lakes to the south of the country down by half. I know from experience that the city could go weeks without a drop of rain in some areas but as a Canadian ex-pat who elected to leave the cold and snow of Montréal (which can hit at least -30C in the dead of February) that don't bother me much. Weather in the Great White North can be temperamental, with certain days seeing sun and the next seeing rain, or worse yet, a flurry of random ankle-deep snow, even in May!
Sure, the landlocked capital can often times feel like an oven but that is just a perfect excuse to head to toward the coast and visit any one of Spain's Blue Flag beaches (an honor given to only forty-four other countries and of which Spain has the most by far). Most are easily reachable via the national railway system, or by car or plane within hours. After all, all roads in Spanish cities lead to Madrid (honestly, a lot of the major ones did).
If you can’t get away to the beach for the weekend, there are always several rooftop pools to choose from with great views of the city, most of which open their terrazas come end of May until mid-September, often for free if you buy food or drinks at the bar. Also, as it is quite often bikini weather in Madrid, it is always easier to know what to wear in its Mediterranean climate; no need for the snow boots, raincoats or umbrellas that had been my only lifelines to brave the Canadian cold.
Imagine doing this on a rooftop with an ice-cold glass of sangria.
For those who prefer not to get wet, cafes and restaurants with outdoor terrazas abound the city for anyone who wants to tomar sol (sunbathe). After being born a snow bunny, moving to Florida to become a beach bunny and then moving back to Montréal to do it all over again and then moving to South Korea (a peninsular country with shockingly nearly no swimmable beaches), Spain had exactly was I was looking for in terms of climate and coast. I mean, there is a reason even other Europeans like to use the Iberian peninsula as their shopping grounds for vacations.
Which is where I mention...
4. I 🖤 the affordability of having a social life.
First I'd like to start off by acknowledging the Spanish economic crisis from the late 2000s to mid-2010s, which left some industries crippled and decimated opportunities among youth with an unemployment rate of over fifty per cent for 16-19 year olds in 2009 and the trend increasing to 20-24 year olds by 2013.
That being said, Spain still has the thirteenth largest GDP in the world at the time of this writing, and the national unemployment rate is currently around fifteen per cent (admittedly the highest in western Europe though half of the world’s average) but the quality of life is on par with the best and citizens enjoy the second longest life span after Japan at nearly 83 years. It could be that the price of produce is significantly cheaper compared to colder nations (Canada is one of the world's top 10 food importers and South Korea imports most of its raw food goods from Taiwan or China) that aids in the longevity of the population, with fruits and vegetables often costing pennies on the dollar when stacked against the extravagant supermarket bill I used to rack up in both Montréal and Orlando.
At the same time Spain is one of the biggest producers of oranges, tomatoes, olive oil, wine and pork around the globe so food is cheap in terms of fresh groceries and eating out. Bocadillos (foot-long sandwiches) from a neighborhood deli start at 3-4€, and tapas and pinchos (Spanish appetizers) at 1-4€ at local food markets.
There are tons of these around the city such as Mercado de San Miguel off of Calle Mayor or Mercado de San Anton by Plaza Chueca (the latter also occasionally offering events such as film screenings or flashmob and also a restaurant with a rooftop terrace). Tostadas (open-faced sandwiches served on thick slices of fresh bread) can be found in any typical taberna (restrobar) and raciones (main dishes usually made to share) of Spanish cuisine normally cost about 6-9€ a plate.
The most I've ever spent eating out so far was 30€ on Valentine's Day with my boyfriend in a ritzy Italian restaurant downtown where we ordered a large appetizer, two huge plates of pasta, a basket of fresh bread, a whole bottle of mid-range Spanish wine and then split dessert and the bill. I've spent double that just for myself in Montréal eating out at a restaurant of the same quality where the table d'hôte (menu of the day with appetizer, principal plate, and dessert but no drink besides free tap water) typically begin at $30CAD/person. Factor in:
a drink or two ($3CAD/bottle of water, $6CAD/glass of wine, $9CAD/cocktail, $30/bottle of wine)
taxes (15.9% in Québec while the 21% IVA in Spain is included in every price)
tip (a custom not so common in Mediterranean Europe but normally adds another 15-20% to every Canadian’s food bill)
With all that you'd be looking at a small fortune in my first hometown’s old quarter, Vieux Montréal (on my last V-Day there the bill was $54CAD/person, one drink each). Then again I know a lot of people who don’t mind paying more to eat out well if it’s good value for the money (I am not one of those people, however) so if that’s what you’re into Madrid will definitely give you more bang for your buck compared to other Western capitals. Go ahead and splurge!
A night out on the town in Madrid with amigos is quite economical in comparison, with pints of beer (locally known as jarras) to be found for as little as 1,50€, glasses of wine starting between 2-3€ in nearly every bar, and establishments such as +K Copas serving cocktails around 5€.
Most clubs have entry fees of 10-20€ on weekend nights but the price tag usually includes a drink or two (beer, wine or well drink) and it's quite easy to get on most guestlists for a discount or free cover before 12AM (most places close at 6-7AM). Cocktails cost between 6-12€ each depending where you go and what you order, but the more local the choice of place and beverage, the cheaper. If you want to be even more thrifty, canned beers are 0.60€ in local supermarket chains like Mercadona or Día, bottles of wine at 2€ and change, and bottles of spirits going for 5€.
Overall the cost of living food-wise is generally affordable for anyone, even outside the home, depending on tastes and cravings. When you get nostalgic for more than everyday Spanish cuisine, look no further than my next favorite thing to wet your appetite.
5. I 🖤 the diversity of the city
It's often said that, unlike other Spanish regions, Madrid has no real cuisine of its own (besides cocido) but considering it's the capital, it offers many different establishments from all over the country as well as the world that do.
For example, if you're craving Chinese food, look no further than the Winnie the Pooh restaurant (officially called Restaurante Xiongzai) or if you want something even more authentic you can go to the underground shopping center by Plaza de Espana (where some establishments' menus are only written in Mandarin). If you're craving Indian, there's Tandoori Station by Metro Manuel Becerra or try any location in the barrio of Lavapíes. If you long for the spiciness of Korean food like I normally do, Nunca Cocines Sin Hambre in Malasaña makes pretty good kimchi and seafood pajeon (Korean pancake) while Mannan (practically hidden on Calle Aduana) offers an all-you-can-eat-and-drink Korean BBQ option. If you love Japanese ramen as much as I do, there's Ramen Kagura whose smallest bowls start at 6€. Prefer Senegalese food? Try Dakar in Lavapies. Cuban? El Rincon de Marco has huge plates starting at 7€.
There is a wealth more of Caribbean, Latin American and African restaurants throughout the city, as well as shops that cater to people from those demographics in terms of exotic commodities such as certain herbs and spices, or beauty goods like authentic shea butter, body quality art henna and afro hair care products.
Even Puerta de Alcalá has two faces.
For North American ex-pats who miss some staple foods, there are a plethora of American and Canadian food chains throughout the city from Tommy Mel's to Dunkin Donuts, Tim Horton’s (I won’t deny that I was so happy the day this came to Madrid in 2018 and that I no longer had to go without their Tim Bits!), Five Guys, Steak and Shake and so on. There's even a restaurant El Canadiense between Metros Bilbao and Quevedo that claims to specialize in Canadian cuisine though I've yet to go there.
If you’d rather stick to exploring the local cuisine and to experiment more with different types of Spanish food, you have Galician, Catalán, Andalucían, Valencian (yadda yadda) restrobars almost anywhere you look because, if there's anything that the Spanish like more than anything, it's their own cuisine. Early-bird eaters should be careful though, as dinner isn't usually served until about 9-10PM, however, sometimes kitchens stay open to as late as midnight.
Why so late, you ask?
Well...
6. I 🖤 that the city truly never sleeps.
I can honestly save there has not been a day that I have been bored since coming to Spain for the first time nearly 4 years ago. There is just literally so many things that one can do in the city at any given time, so many places to go that even if I tried a new cafe/restaurant/bar for every meal every day of the year it would still take me at least five years to go through the majority (Spain literally has more bars than any other country in Europe at over half a million locations). There are also countless art galleries and exhibits (many of them for free nearly year round), outdoor music festivals (including free ones like San Isidro which celebrates the patron saint of Madrid or paid like MadCool), cultural festivals (like La Noche en Blanco, La Noche de Los Libros, the annual Chinese New Year celebrations, Gay Pride), several venues advertising concerts (such as the afamed WiZink center) where nights tend to go on until late or more commonly until dawn, depending on the event.
Paseo de Neptuno
Very close to Plaza de Cibeles, a hub for nightbuses
Sure, everything is usually in Spanish but true art forms could transcend even words at times, though I'm sure many tourists often complain about the same thing when they come to Montréal and they have nasty shock of finding that many signs/shows/advertisements are only in French (hon hon hon).
Exhibits usually closed around 6-9PM, restaurants normally closed their kitchens between 11PM-1AM, and bars typically closed at 3AM, allowing people to dance the night away at hit clubs such as Kapital (a 7-story giant with multiple dance floors and booths yet not one elevator), Medias Purl (which won Time Out Magazine's Best Club Award in 2017 and can hold a thousand people on its three dance floors) or Supernova (a club mostly known to those who rub shoulders with Madrid's who's who) until the metro at least reopened at 6AM.
You could also elect to grab breakfast with friends at one of the nearby eateries that are still open until late like Marketplace (a 24-hour deli chain found in various central neighborhoods) before heading home as the sun is rising to herald a new day. If you can't pull an all-nighter and live pretty central, you can always stroll home like I used to when I lived by Estacíon de Atocha (the central railway station) which was too close to Puerta del Sol to warrant a night bus but still took a drudge of between twenty to thirty minutes from the nightlife areas of Malasaña and La Latina between 2-6AM when no transportation was available except taxis. It was a walk that I'd dreaded and that I had tried to avoid by either pulling a Cinderella at a quarter to two when the metro closed, or committing to dancing the night away, but not for the reasons one might expect.
You see...
One of the many guards stationed round the clock by government buildings.
7. I 🖤 that the city is relative safety, even when walking around alone at night.
Madrid in the 1990s was apparently a very scary place like most major cities (just look at the crime statistics for New York and London during the same time period) but the government initiative to increase the presence of the police force around the city over the years has drastically helped reduced violent crime, especially in tourist areas.
Any local will tell you Madrid (and Spain overall) is very safe with the biggest crime reported being pickpocketing (in Montréal it's bicycle theft and in South Korea cyber-hacking) and while I wouldn't say it's entirely a victimless crime, I'd prefer it to being physically assaulted or mugged as often still happens to travelers in other parts of Europe such as Paris, Berlin or Rome.
South Madrid might boast the most notorious reputation but it's an upcoming location that many Madrileños are flocking to as they try to avoid the pitfalls of the current housing crisis.
I've walked from several times from Puerta del Sol to Plaza de Toros (another of my old haunting grounds) without a single incident, a journey of at least an hour on foot across a slew of neighborhoods from ritzy to middle-class. I'm not saying that this should be an option for everyone but as a millennial WOC I can say that I've genuinely never felt unsure of my safety as I have in London and even some parts of Miami.
I'd put Spain nearly on par with South Korea (where you'll often see kids as young as four years old getting themselves to school in the suburbs) and Canada (where we have a reputation for never locking doors) with regards to safety, so anyone worried about their well-being while abroad here should ease their minds. Around the clock pubic buses tend to connect even the longest distances and the nearly twenty hours the metro runs every day means it's unlikely you'll have to splurge for a cab unless you want to.
Madrid is one of the easiest cities to get around as long as you have a transit pass (like I do), which brings me to another favourite thing...
Parque Retiro
8. I 🖤 the commutability of traveling around the country/continent.
Being situated nearly in the center of the country means that Madrid is one of the easiest places to travel from, with two major train stations (Chamartin and Atocha) located close to the city center, just a metro stop away. The metro also connects to the city’s international airport and new stops are being added to the metro system every year.
The oldest of the metro lines (Line 1) was opened in 1919 and, continuing its expansion well into the 2010s, the Madrid metro system boasts 301 stations (not including the ghost station of Chamberí) connected by 13 lines via 2,404 vehicles over almost 294 kilometers of terrain which makes it the world's sixth longest metro and the second in Europe after London (the world's oldest with 270 stations across 402 km). That's not taking into consideration the ground covered by the suburban trains called Cercanias of which there were 10 lines that branched across nearly the entire Communidad de Madrid (a territory of over 8,000 km²), giving access to the over 5 million souls who inhabited the city. Madrid's metro system also sports the most escalators in the world with 1,656 of them and Line 6 is one of the only few real circular metro lines that exists (the single line in Glasgow being another one) and connects to every other line in the city except one.
Anyone who likes a bit of history and mystery should check out Anden 0, formerly known as Metro Chamberi before it was closed down decades ago and recently renovated into a 200 m² archaeological museum that's free to visit. Better yet, why not take the cercania to Aranjuez or El Escorial as an affordable day trip? The national railway line (Renfre) goes almost all over the country's share of the Iberian peninsula if anyone is ever interested in traveling further than the community's limits.
If the train is too expensive, there's always the bus with companies such as Alsa offering some tickets as cheap as for 4€/seat aboard luxury coaches with ensuite bathrooms. If the bus is too cramped, sometimes the only thing that's left to do is fly, which I discovered could be the cheapest option during my December 2017 trip to Andalucía for a week. Due to the holiday that weekend three-hours trains started at 80€ one way compared to one-hour flights at 44€ (carry-on only) so I chose to take to the sky and saved a pretty penny while I did.
More convenient still than the affordability of Spanish budget airlines that fly within the country, such as Vueling, Iberia Express or AirEuropa Express, are the other local competitors like:
Ryanair (Irish)
EasyJet (British)
Lufthansa (German)
WOW Air (Icelandic)
Norwegian (= Norwegian, duh)
Sometimes these rivals went even further across the world than the Spanish airlines but that was just a blessing. With its ideal location being along the Mediterranean sea and centered in the most southwestern part of Europe, Spain is one of the most convenient countries to fly from with many airlines offering direct flights to eastern North and South America, northern Africa and the Middle East. For perspective, within my first year living here I managed to visit five other countries without breaking the bank all while on a langauge teacher’s salary. Portugal and southern France are practically around the corner!
In fact the only way that I've never traveled within Spain is by boat and at this point, since I've never taken a cruise longer than a day, I wouldn't be past reviewing what it would be like to travel on the Mediterranean sea. Or maybe I could just ask my 75-year old aunt and uncle who recently took a cruise that started in southern Italy, connected to the Côte d'Azur of France and then found its way to Barcelona, which might be a sight to see by water as I'd done the opposite route via terrain in 2015.
Either way it's pretty easy to get around and there's a plethora of places to be discovered even within the country's border. If you ever run out of suggestions just ask the locals and I'm sure they'd love to fill you in on more sights to uncover because, if there's anything more that the Spanish love than beach days and sunshine, it is talking about their country for all the things previously mentioned.
#humblebrag
Palacio de Cibeles
9. I 🖤 the passion of the Spanish people
The Spanish are raised modest as a culture but ask any of them anything about their country and none would hesitate to start telling you everything you wanted to know and more. This particularly applies in Madrid where majority of the inhabitants are native to other regions of the country and therefore are always filled with suggestions about just where to visit next. Spain is as ecologically and culturally diverse as any country, from the windy cliffs and seafood of Galicia in the northwest to the lush forests of the Basque Country to the northeast, down toward Catalonia’s and Valencia’s east coast beaches and onto the Moorish architecture scattered all around Andalucía in the south. As the capital Madrid gets the best of both worlds, influences from the north and the south, east and west, with every major city in the country containing a calle de Madrid, which supposedly always eventually leads to the capital if continuously followed.
Still, while Madrid has its merits so do many other towns throughout the peninsula. There were at least one thousand and one different festivals going on annually, including some of my favorites such as:
Carnaval (anywhere but especially Cadiz or the Canary Islands)
Las Fallas in Valencia (where people build intricate paper-mâché statues just to burn them to ashes and dance among the embers)
Tomatina in Buñol (the world's biggest tomato food fight)
Haro Wine Festival (Tomatina’s wine equivalent)
La Mercé in Barcelona (the largest festival in Catalonia)
European Balloon Festival in Igualada (biggest hot air ballon festival in Spain and one of the biggest in Europe)
If dancing in the street to marching bands doesn’t suit you or you just prefer music festivals, there are several options such as MadCool’s diverse lineup in Madrid or Primavera Sound in Barcelona, the celtic-centered Ortigueira in Galicia or the electronic FIB in Bilbao, just to name a few. If being one with nature is more your thing or you're the sporty type, the Basque Country is famous for their strongman competitions, Asturias offers world famous surf camps or you could visit the eco-friendly hippie commune of El Calabacino in Huelva. If you're a diehard foodie, gastronomic festivals abound throughout the nation with every region having a speciality (like there's more to Catalán cuisine than paella).
Regardless of the season there's a sleuth of things to do year-round but particularly in summer when there's less of an excuse needed to go out with friends and family, and just enjoy life (just ask any non-Madrileño how often they run back home for a town-wide party). With so many activities around and, most of them free within cities, one should make like the locals and experience everything to the full. Qué aproveche!
Live. It. Up.
10. I 🖤 the good and the bad that comes with the thousand-year old culture, plus the ease of learning of the language.
Everybody has got their something and Madrid was a city that either you loved or didn't. I knew dozens of people who preferred the metropolitan feel of Barcelona, the beach town feel of the Canary Islands or Valencia, or the Andalucían swag of Sevilla and Granada. For some Madrid is too crowded, too loud and polluted with rude locals, but that's the same thing people often say about New York, Paris and London, and they’re often considered some of the best places in the world (and only one of which is in my top ten favourite cities but that’s a post for another day).
Spain throughout its centuries-long history has had many capitals depending on the kingdom/government in power at the time. Córdoba was the capital of the caliphate in Andalucía until 977 upon its disintegration, which allowed the former Roman outpost of Madrid to be absorbed into the Taifa Kingdom of Toledo. In 1058 Toledo was retaken from the Moors by King Alfonso VI of Castile and Léon and remained the capital until King Felipe II moved it to Madrid in 1561, where overall it has stayed the capital despite Felipe III moving the capital to Valladolid from 1601-1606 (or periods of political unrest during the Spanish Civil War of 1930s but those were dark times that shan’t be spoken of).
Apart from its strategic location, there has to be a reason Madrid developed from an outpost along the Manzanares river into the fourth most populated city in the European Union after London, Paris and Berlin. Being one of the richest kingdoms of the 15th century had also helped to spread its influence as explorers from Extremadura and Andalucía set out to discover the New World, for better or worse.
The following paragraph might make some people uncomfortable.
I don't want to get into the horrors that followed for the natives of the Americas, like literally, the entire continent from north to south (an area that makes up 28.4% of the world’s landmass and is now comprised of 35 countries and 9 territories) . All I can say is that having been to a few countries in South America, I can see how European colonization sadly still has effects in some places to this day. Nevertheless, in such a long history and given human nature there aren't many current nations that don't have bloody skeletons in the closet from recent history including Canada, the US, Japan, Russia, Argentina, Cambodia, Rwanda, South Africa, Australia, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Albania, Bosnia, really the list goes on. And on. And on (oh the inhumanity).
That being stated, Spanish (known as castellano in Spanish as there are about a hundred variations within Spain alone) is the world's fourth most spoken language after Mandarin, English and Hindu. There are about 527 million hispanohablantes globally, with the language officially spoken on three-out-of-five continents, and with some of the world's biggest entertainment industries catering specifically to this market. Mexico has one of the biggest film industries with an annual revenue of nearly $1 trillion USD, while both Spain and Mexico have one of the top 20 music industries (annual revenue $180 million USD and $130 million USD, respectively), and let's not talk about fútbol, the world’s favorite sport where the top 20 teams were worth a combined $1.69 billion USD (two of them being Barcelona and Real Madrid). The World Cup has also been held in a Spanish-speaking country more often than any other language, which can’t just be a coincidence either.
Majority of Brazilians and Portugeuse speak some Spanish as well.
All this to say that if you were thinking of taking up another language, Spanish should be high on your list in terms of usability, accessibility to learning material and how easy it is to learn (I can attest to that).
Sure, the grammar can be a pain (why do subjects and objects sometimes change place???) but the pronunciation is quite straightforward, unlike all the silent letters in French and English. Can you pronounce écureuil or squirrel as a non-native without a voice translator? Even with all their syllables Spanish words like desvanecimiento (fading) or independientemente (independently) which can be awful tongue-twisters, are possible to figure out without a language coach compared to western Europe's other common languages. As someone from a city that's half-francophone, half-anglophone one thing I can say I envy about Latinos is that they probably never to sit through endless spelling and pronunciation drills (fille, bille, nouille).
Regardless of what language you decide to learn though, studies have proven that learning another language is good for continued brain development into adulthood and helped prevent neurological degenerative diseases, so why not take a crack? There are plenty of free apps like Duolingo to help get you started and you'll never know if you can use it in your next destination, too.
I know I did on my recent trip to South America in summer 2018 and I hope it can be useful for you too. These are my favourite things about Madrid, agree or disagree with them if you will, or better yet come see for yourself exactly why I call this place home now. I doubt you’ll regret it. I know I haven’t.
May you get lost in the wonder,
M